


Renaissance

by LPCollins, YellowSniper64



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s13e22 Exodus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 03:23:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17758841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LPCollins/pseuds/LPCollins, https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowSniper64/pseuds/YellowSniper64
Summary: I can't say that I can change the world, but if you let me, I can make another world for us...Sam and Dean's plan to save the hunters was working out perfectly. But then Michael shows up and the brothers have a decision to make. One tiny decision can change the course of the future. It changes death and it changes life. Allies and enemies. Family, friends, love. Either way, nothing will ever be the same again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> YellowSniper64: I NEED TO WRITE A HAPPY ENDING FANFICTION TO SEASON 13  
> LPCollins: OH YES PLEASE DO  
> I NEED THAT
> 
> We stayed as sane as we could when writing this. Please enjoy!

Gabriel turned around to look at the Winchesters. “Go,” he said. “I can buy some time.”

Sam looked at him with big eyes. “Gabriel, don’t.”

All the archangel could do was smile at the man that’d pulled him from the edge. “All I did on Earth was run. I’m not running anymore.” He turned to face his brother. Hell, he was so ready for this. “Go!” he yelled one last time at the brothers.

Except that Sam wasn’t planning on going anywhere. He knew how this would end. And it had ended that way one too many times.

“Get Cas over here,” he told his brother. “Now.”

“Sam, we can’t-” Dean started but was interrupted.

“Dean,” Sam stressed. “This has to end. Right here, right now. And we’re gonna need everything we’ve got. Slowing him down won’t be enough, we have to _stop_ him, don’t you see? He’s never gonna give up. But we’re here now and if we work together, all of us, then maybe…” He shook his head. He knew it was a long shot but they had to try. “Think about it. We’ve got Lucifer and Gabriel, Cas, you and me… We’re never gonna get another chance like this. And even if it’s not enough…” Sam took a deep breath. “At least we’re going down fighting. And we’ll do it together.”

Dean slightly frowned but then nodded and looked his younger brother in the eye. “Okay. You’re right. Together.”

As Dean jumped through the rift to get help, Sam went for the one person he’d never thought he’d help. He grabbed Lucifer’s arm and pulled the Devil back up.

“Not done yet, huh?” Lucifer groaned, whipping a bit of blood away from his mouth.

“Not even close,” Sam answered. “Can you do it? With Gabe and Cas?”

The angel breathed out heavily. “Maybe.”

“Then do.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow at him and Sam could see what was going on. Lucifer was _this_ close to dropping out and choosing his own survival. Unfortunately, they needed Lucifer. They would never be able to do it without him.

“If you even care the slightest bit about Jack,” he said, “if there’s ever been one tiny part of you that loved him, that loved your brothers, _your family_ , then do help us. Not for us, but for them.”

Although he still looked a bit reluctant, Lucifer let out a sigh. “Fine,” he agreed. “Always wanted to take my turn on Michael anyway.”

They turned just in time to see Michael forcing Gabriel to drop the archangel blade.

Sam all but shoved Lucifer forward. “I’ll support you from behind, Dean will arrive back shortly with Cas. No one but Michael is dying here tonight, got it?”

The only response he got from the fallen archangel was a huff, but he went along with it. A zap from behind was enough to know that Dean and Cas were with them again. None knew how much longer the rift would stay open, but it had to be enough.

The flash seemed to be enough of a distraction to Michael for just a second, but it was long enough for Gabriel to slip out of his grasp. ‘Slip’ was a graceful term for stumbling and falling back harshly. Michael couldn’t give his attention to him any longer, as Lucifer had gotten his barings together again, though slightly against his own will, and blasted him. It seemed more like a keep-away game than anything else at this point, but it was working for the time being.

Michael could only get one hit on Lucifer this time, pulled away from his tasks again by a voice.

“Hey, assbutt.”

“Castiel, this never was your fight,” Michael said sternly, as if it would make a difference.

“It was when you involved my family.”

No one had time to think over his words as Lucifer, Dean, and Cas surrounded the archangel. Sam joined them, making sure to keep all attention on the the four of them. He involuntarily flinched at the sound of static behind them, signalling the rift’s lack of energy.

Though useless, Castiel was brandishing his angel blade, Dean mimicking the motion. Lucifer still seemed to be weighing his options, and Sam was about tempted to stick a blade through him as well.

The only sounds that seemed to fill the silence hanging thickly in the air was labored breathing, though most of them had tuned out any sound, too focused on the enemy before them. It was for that reason that it still came as a surprise to them to see a blade now sticking through Michael chest.

Nothing seemed to happen at first, as if the time stopped. Thoughts ran through the heads of Sam and Dean, wondering if this was it, Michael couldn’t be killed, and they were done for. However, these were proven wrong as the skin of Michael’s vessel seemed to fizzle, and light seemed to glow through the skin; ever minuscule cut seemed to have the archangel’s grace seeping through it. His head was thrown back as light, in too pure of a form, streamed from his eyes, and the mouth that hung open with a scream. It was all over in a moment, and silence hung heavily upon them again before the Winchesters felt it was safe enough to open their eyes.

Before them was the sight of what used to be Michael, charcoal-like wings imprinted in the ground protruding from his shoulder blades. Eyes were still wide and mouth agape, but nothing about him could be classified as ‘alive’.

“Is that it?” Dean was the first one to ask. It wasn’t easy, per se, but the moment had passed so fast it was almost easy to believe it hadn’t happened at all.

“I… guess…” Sam hesitantly said.

They had all been staring at Michael’s body in shock for so long that they basically forget about the rift until they heard the static again.

Castiel turned around at once. “Dean, Sam, the rift…”

Dean swore under his breath as all five of them turned around and were met with the vision of a rift that could be closing any second now. They all knew what it meant right away.

“Son of a…” Dean started and then took a sprint towards their only way back home, followed by his brother and the angels.

He got there first and stepped through, the rift flashing brightly in his wake. Castiel was right behind him and followed his lead. Then Gabriel took the jump and… landed on the ground again.

“What the…” he cursed in shock, looking back at Sam and Lucifer, who were staring at the spot where not five seconds ago the rift had been.

“No,” Sam muttered. “No, no no no no, this can’t be happening!”

Lucifer just groaned in annoyance. “Really?”

But honestly, Sam couldn’t even bother paying attention to him. “No, that’s not… this wasn’t… oh my god…”

“Pretty sure even Dad would think this too ironic, actually,” Gabriel mumbled, getting on his feet again.

The Devil sighed in response. “Please tell me there is a way to fix this and I’m not left with you two in this stupid sandbox.”

“Oh, trust me, brother,” Gabriel snapped at him. “There are tons of places where I’d rather be right now too. But in case you hadn’t noticed, our only escape just _vanished into thin air_.”

“So? Sam’ll have something up his sleeve, right Sammy?”

Sam was actually still staring at the used-to-be rift, jaw dropped in disbelief. He honestly had no idea what to do now, how to possibly fix this. “I…” he started. “I don’t know… I mean… Rowena can’t open the rift again without an archangel…”

“And we can’t perform the spell,” Gabriel finished his sentence.

The Winchester nodded, a desperate look in his eyes.

“Sooo?” Lucifer asked in an irritated voice. “Then what do we do?”

The three of them exchanged a look. They all came up empty and they knew it. Eventually Sam was the one to speak the words none of them wanted to hear.

“Nothing. We’re stuck here.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact about the first chapter, I had to rewatch both of Gabriel's deaths a hundred or so times to figure out how to describe Michael's death. This chapter was so much easier to get through ~YellowSniper64

“What do you mean you can’t?!” Dean was practically yelling at the red-headed witch.

“I would zap some sense through your thick skull if I could tell which one to aim for,” Rowena snapped back, squinting at him. Keeping herself going as long as she had was taking its toll and she was a blink away from passing out. “I’ve used up too much power as it is, and that spell was only to keep it open, it can do nothing to re-open the rift.”

“You’ve opened that stupid thing countless times before, just do it again!” Dean exclaimed. His brother was still on the other side. With Lucifer of all people. Sure, Michael was dead and Gabriel was with him, but it was _Lucifer_. God knew what that jerk would do if he got the opportunity. Or if he was simply bored.

“I _can’t_ ,” Rowena stressed, getting desperate at the stubborn, raging hunter. “The spell requires an archangel’s grace and since you left all of them in the other dimension, it cannot be performed!”

Dean had already opened his mouth to start protesting again when a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Dean,” Cas said in a calm voice. “There’s nothing we can do right now. We don’t have the ingredients and Rowena is exhausted from performing the spell to keep the rift open. We’ll find a solution but right now you need to calm down.”

“Calm down?” his friend huffed. “My brother is over there! All by himself, with Lucifer!”

“Gabriel is with him,” Castiel said before Dean could start rambling again. “He’ll make sure Sam’s alright.”

Dean clenched his jaw in an attempt to cool down a bit. It wasn’t working very well. “Well, what if he can’t?”

Cas didn’t answer but he had a worried look in his downcast eyes. “We’ll find a way,” he eventually said and then turned to witch that was still standing next to them. “You should take some rest. We’ll call you if we need you.”

Rowena took a deep breath, obviously not very pleased with being treated as some kind of house witch. “Very well then.” She turned around and as she started walking towards her room, they could hear her mumble something along the lines of “Is just a simple ‘thanks’ really too much to ask for? Thank you, Rowena, for keeping the rift open and saving our buts. Thank you, Rowena, for not running away after practically being harassed by the Devil. Arrogant hunters with their constant complaining…”

Dean pretended not to notice as he huffed to himself, storming off to his own room. Castiel decided to leave him alone for the time being, instead turning his attention to the nephilim that sat be himself. Carefully making his way over, as not to startle Jack, the angel took a seat next to him.

“Jack, how are you holding up?”

He didn’t receive a response at first, but didn’t push for any answers. Jack was still learning how he was supposed to deal with feelings such as grief. When he did speak, it was still quiet.

“What if we can’t help them?”

“We will, we always have,” Castiel assured him, though he also seemed to be trying to convince himself. They really were at a loss of what to do, and next to nothing was possible from the other side of the now-closed rift.

“There’s always a first.” Jack finally met the gaze of Castiel. “I heard my mother talking about missing a lot of ‘first’s, and… maybe this could be one of those that we can’t avoid. I want things to work out, but with the two only archangels on the other side, and me not being able to control my power to that extent…”

“You are not allowed to blame yourself for this,” Castiel finally intervened. Of course, he knew better than most how easy it was to find reasons to pin the blame on oneself, but there could be no one to blame at this point. “It happened, and we’ll fix it. It’ll take time, but I have faith in Sam and Gabriel that they will keep going. As for... _your father_ , I’m not sure how the others will feel about keeping him here once they return. However, we’ll get there when it comes to that. Now, we have a couple dozen refugees staying with us, so why don’t you make them feel at home?”

The young nephilim smiled slightly before nodding. Castiel wasn’t there to see it, but he had heard from Mary how he was with the children. Only a few short moments passed before Jack disappeared into the crowd of new people. The fallen angel didn’t move from where he sat, only turning to look at the version of Bobby he came to know, who now stood on the map table.

“We made it!” were the first words that left his mouth, silencing the crowd. “Don’t know much about this place, but it’s a place without Michael, so that’s a turn for the better. I don’t want none of you goin’ soft on me, because we are going to get ourselves ready, and go back home, and set our people free!”

It struck Castiel at that moment of cheers that they didn’t know about their success before the rift closed. That was a topic he could discuss with the old man later, and the problem of getting back would arise again. For now, he let the leader from the other world talk.

“While we’re celebrating, let’s not forget our brothers and sisters who didn’t make it. They will never be forgotten, and we will do right by them.”

It also occurred to the seraph that they didn’t know that Sam and Gabriel were still alive. He refused to think of the fact that it could have been long enough for Lucifer to have them both killed. _They’re strong_ , he reminded himself. Years of torture, and even death hadn’t stopped either of them.

“And now, a toast to our new brother, Dean Winchester. Though it was not said at the time, Sam Winchester was also a part of this family, and shall be remembered as we have been. They have been greatly welcomed to this family.”

Bobby met the eyes of the Winchester who had just returned to the room, and gave him a curt nod. In turn, Dean raised a glass to him, along with the rest that occupied the room.

The rest of that evening was basically spent housing the new hunters. Luckily, the bunker turned out to be big enough to fit them all. It was weird though, seeing all these strangers in their home. Sure, they’d met some of them already but even so the place felt extremely crowded compared to their usual company of four. Now, people were roaming the hallways, exploring their collections, searching out rooms for themselves. Jack was helping them get settled; it was the only thing at the moment that could make the corner of Dean’s mouth turn up. The kid was always being so kind, helping out wherever he could. Ironically, the son of the Devil had turned out to be one of the nicest, most sociable people Dean had ever come to know.

He suddenly sensed a presence at his side but didn’t even need to look up to see who it was. Instead he emptied the glass of scotch he’d been holding and said, “He’s doing well, isn’t he?”

“It appears that way,” Castiel answered. “But I’m afraid he might be blaming himself again. I tried to distract him but… He just wants to help. Make himself useful.”

“Yeah well, he’s not the only one,” Dean muttered. “What the hell are we supposed to do, Cas? We’ve had trouble enough finding this spell, who knows how long it’s gonna take before we get our hands on another one? Who knows if Sam…” He stopped himself before he could phrase his worst fear and walked away to fetch himself another drink.

Castiel followed close behind. “Dean, we can do this. We’ll go through the lore again, and the Book of the Damned… the Demon Tablet, the Angel Tablet, whatever we need. But we _will_ get Sam back, I promise.” He didn’t know who he was trying to convince more, Dean or himself.

“Yeah, whatever,” the hunter mumbled. “I’m going to the library. Check on the lore.”

And with that he left Castiel by himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam didn’t know how long they’d been driving but he couldn’t wait for it to end.

Lucifer was in the driver’s seat of the bus again, where Sam and Gabriel could keep a close eye on him. The problem was that now it was just the three of them and the two angels simply wouldn’t stop arguing.

“I’m just saying, if one of us has to give up his grace…”

“Oh, right,” Gabriel mocked. “‘Cuz I’ll just offer you all of my grace, so that you can open up the rift again and burst through, nothing standing in your way except two petty little humans.”

Sam would probably feel insulted if he could’ve bothered to care. However, for the moment his mind was occupied with a much bigger issue. Their way back.

He had been thinking and thinking about a way to open up the rift again. He remembered the ingredients, that wasn’t the problem. Fruit from the tree of life, the Seal of Solomon, blood of a most holy man and grace from an archangel. Oh, and something from the other side. But that shouldn’t be a problem. They were all from the other side.

Unfortunately, gathering the ingredients and, more importantly, figuring out the spell itself was something else entirely. They needed a plan, and a good one too. This world was completely different from theirs, it would take some time to find out where to find everything they needed.

“You barely have any grace left anyway, might as well use whatever’s remaining,” Lucifer stated.

If Gabriel hadn’t been too touchy on the subject, he probably would’ve defended himself with the whole ‘not enough grace for the spell’ thing. But he preferred not to mention that.

“Listen, no one is sacrificing their grace here,” Sam interrupted them. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. And that’s gonna take long enough as it is.”

The two celestial beings in front of him grumbled something in reply before falling into silence again.

After a while Gabriel opened his mouth again. “How far you think?”

“Half an hour?” Sam guessed. “I didn’t exactly think about timing the drive that was supposed to take us away from here.”

“Good thing at least one of us was watching the road,” Lucifer sighed dramatically.

Sam gave him an unmistakable bitchface. “You were driving the bus.”

Lucifer only shrugged at that. “I’m sure I could drive a bus without looking.”

“I vote for getting out of this damn bus now and leaving him,” Gabriel piped up. Sam sighed, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. This was getting out of hand and nothing could put a stop to it; not even he and Dean were this bad.

And that’s what sent his thoughts spiraling about what was going on back home. Yes, _home_ , because the bunker finally felt like home with his family. Now, though, they were so far apart and there was no telling when or if they’d get back.

Sam could practically see his brother beating himself up over this, Jack being in a similar position, with Castiel checked on them constantly, while also struggling with the social interaction of the refugees. Dean wasn’t cut out to be a leader, despite - though maybe it was _especially_ because of - the way their father raised him, but he was strong enough to take the job if necessary. His angel would be by his side, like he had been throughout the ten-ish years of dealing with each other’s bullshit.

The Winchester found himself believing they would be fine without him. If he had to stay, then at least he could keep Lucifer in this world. He also had Gabriel, who he might’ve said would keep him sane, if it weren’t for the relentless bickering.

“Will you two just shut up?” Sam eventually snapped at the two archangels.

“Aw, Gabe, look! You made Sammy mad~” Lucifer only continued. The younger archangel had the sense to ignore him though. He pulled himself through the hatch at the top of the bus, much to the hunter’s concern, and sat himself on the roof. Up there, he could be alone; Lucifer had to drive and Sam would never fit through the hatch. The only thing that broke the awkward silence between the two still in the vehicle was Lucifer’s humming, which went ignored. The long amount of time that they were bound to spend in that world only seemed to be dragged out by seconds that seemed slower than usual.

“Michael may be dead, but he still has armies scouting the earth,” Sam reminded them, only half aware that Gabriel could still hear them. “Think we can deal with them?”

“I’ve known enough angels to know that none of them have even half the brain my brother did, and that was only with his instructions,” Lucifer said, mostly likely rolling his eyes, though Sam couldn’t see. “We have a practically graceless archangel, a freakishly tall hunter, and me. What could go wrong?”

“Everything. Every damn thing could go wrong, because if one of them don’t kill us, we’ll end up trying to kill each other.” Sam said, not having the energy to care in the moment. “Hell, I’d be willing to drive a blade through you now.”

“Hey, I’m driving you guys to where you want to go, have some respect. I could have crashed this long ago and left you,” the devil countered again matter of factly, as if it did anything to prove his innocence.

Gabriel put his head back down the hole. “Yes, where are we exactly going after we get back to base camp?”

“Well,” Sam started, “I was thinking we should start with the Angel Tablet. It may have something useful on it, even if we can’t find all the ingredients to the spell.”

“I thought that thing got destroyed years ago,” Gabriel commented.

“It did. But not in this world, remember? Kevin had it when he was working for Michael.”

“But only prophets can read the tablet, and I heard Kevin’s dead,” Lucifer piped up. It was starting to seem as if he didn’t want to leave, despite the fact that his son was on the other side of the rift.

The hunter glared at him. “Can’t you bring him back to life like you did for me?”

“Technically speaking, yes,” Lucifer said. “If I had his body. And if I can reach his soul.”

Gabriel clapped his hands. “Great, let’s go dig up some dead prophet.”

“Could you two be any more insensitive?”

The two angels looked at Sam as if it was the most stupid question ever to be asked.

“Fine,” Sam sighed. “Let’s find where he’s buried. If he’s even been buried.”

“Would you bury a guy that tried to sigil bomb you?” Gabriel questioned.

“I would’ve sigil bombed him right back,” Lucifer added. “After I brought him back to life.”

How long had Sam been stuck with these two now? “Okay, whatever, where he died then.”

“Michael’s fortress, right?” Gabriel said and Sam nodded.

“Yeah, that’s what Mom and Jack said. But I’ve never seen it, we have no idea where it’s even located.”

Lucifer raised a finger and gave him that innocent-like smile of his. “I have. See? Happy you didn’t stab or ditch me now, right Sammy?”

“Stop calling me that before I change my mind.”

“So,” Gabriel rubbed his hands together, suddenly in the seat across from the hunter, “That’s the plan? Base camp for supplies, fortress for the prophet and tablet. Seems like a good start.”

Silence fell upon the three again before Sam thought of something. “Lucifer, how were you let into heaven once you were back? Cas mentioned that you were up there for a bit.” He knew very well that Satan wouldn’t be welcomed back up above very quickly.

Lucifer only shrugged half-heartedly, his sly smile visible in the rear-view mirror. “I promised to return their wings.”

“What?” Gabriel’s neck snapped up from gazing at the floor.

“That was an extreme dick move, and I’m sure you didn’t actually do it.”

“Hold up, what exactly happened?” Gabriel looked between the two suspiciously.

“It’s a long story; the angels fell, heaven was locked, they rebuilt heaven, the darkness came, a lot of angels died and now heaven is running low. And I’m positive that you never followed through on that promise, did you?” Sam explained, glaring at the devil through the mirror as he said the last part.

“O’course not, never could do that to begin with.”

“You lying dick, I know you can. Dad forced you to after you were messing with the little ones,” Gabriel hissed at his older brother. “You keep trying to say you’ve changed, when really you only want the kid’s power.”

The brothers went at it again and Sam groaned. He could only hope that Dean, Castiel, and Jack were doing better off on the other side.


	4. Chapter 4

"How does grace work, Cas?" Dean asked out of the blue, breaking the almost strange quietude that had settled in the bunker with the other-world hunters out on jobs.

The two of them were sitting in the library by themselves, Mary and Jack having joined the other hunters and Rowena going through the Book of the Damned in her room. After she'd recovered enough and Dean had tried to be as nice as possible, she'd offered to help find a solution.

"Why do you ask?" the seraph countered.

Dean answered honestly as he took a sip of beer. "I was curious to how Gabe's grace might be doing, 's all."

"'Gabe'? That's new."

"Sorry, seems natural. He's started to grow on me, I guess." The hunter shrugged. Even he found it a bit surprising that he'd forgiven the archangel all of a sudden. He could only guess it had something to do with the way Gabriel finally stood up to fight, after running from his problems, much like Dean himself had. Also, after seeing the way his brother trusted the archangel, Dean could only hope they could take care of each other, and deal with Lucifer, despite both of their horrible experiences with him.

Castiel interrupted his train of thought. "He can't grow o-"

"It's a figure of speech."

"Ah, right. To answer your question, as long as it's his own grace, it mends itself and grows over time." Castiel flinched slightly at the thought, back when he was running on stolen grace. "The more grace that has replenished, the easier it is to heal and sort of rebuild itself. Since my brother hadn't used his grace for a while, it is surely stronger, though I haven't an idea on what he's had to do while in the other world."

Dean grimaced but nodded.

"By now, he should be capable of flying," Castiel added. "He'd be able to take himself and Sam away from Lucifer's... actions." 

"That's something, at least," the hunter muttered. Then he thought of something. "Oh, I called Jody and Donna by the way. They're gonna head over."

Cas frowned, looking surprised, but he noticed Dean's expression upon bringing them up, and guessed it would be a good thing. The hunter definitely needed some cheering up, and from what he's heard, Donna and Jody have helped with that in the past. "It will be nice to finally meet them. I've only heard about them from you and Sam, I'd like to have a face to match with the stories. Why did you call them anyway?"

Dean shrugged. "Thought they could help. If only with teaching the other hunters some of the ways we usually work. You know, the basics of our world, how our monsters differ from theirs… I'd help with that but-" He didn't need to finish his sentence for Cas to understand.

His friend just nodded knowingly, then said, "Yes, I think you did good calling them. We'll need all the help we can get right now."

"Thanks, Cas," Dean smiled and two of them looked each other in the eye for a moment before Dean finished his beer.

"Jody Mills is the woman you sent Claire to, correct?" Castiel asked, thinking back on what he'd heard.

"Yeah, she's taking care of a girl named Alex too. Sam and I visited them once for dinner, and let me tell ya, I'm so glad I didn't have to grow up with a sister."

"Though I spent limited time with Claire, I noticed how... _difficult_ teenage girls can be," Castiel thought back, choosing his words carefully.

Dean nodded in understanding, but continued. "Claire's grown up well, you'd be proud of her. She's turned into a real hunter. Kid hasn't had it easy though, especially with the whole other world stuff and what happened to Kaia."

"Right. The dreamwalker girl," Cas sighed. "Jack told me she was nice too."

"She punched him."

"That is true," his friend agreed. "But he still thought she was nice. And so did Claire apparently. It's truly terrible what happened to her. I wish there was something I could do to help Claire."

Dean offered him a comforting smile. "Just be there for her, buddy. That's all you can do."

"These other worlds…" Castiel just shook his head.

"Yeah," Dean muttered. "I know." 

A not-particularly uncomfortable silence fell between the two, as they both automatically thought of their brothers.

"What about you, Cas?" "Hm?" The angel looked at Dean with a puzzled expression. 

"How are you doing on this earth?" the hunter clarified.

"I've lived on this earth quite a while, so I still don't understand what you mean. I am fine."

Dean sighed. "I _mean_ , knowing our brothers are on the other side of the rift."

"Ah… I think they'll be fine. I trust their abilities," Castiel finally said with a brief nod of understanding.

Dean let out a little hum, being it an insecure one. It didn't matter how many times Cas told him so, he still couldn't convince himself to actually believe the words. If they had to trust Sam and Gabriel to find a way out on their own, who knew how long that would take. Lucifer could be betraying and/or trying to kill them in a gazillion different ways in that period of time. Sure, they knew the ingredients but they still had to get them. Even if they were still located in the same places as in their own world, that would cost way too much time. Some of that stuff had been pretty much on the other side of the world. Cas had said Gabriel should be able to fly again but who knew for how many journeys he'd have the stamina left? And if it was up to Lucifer… No, Dean didn't trust the guy, not the slightest bit.

Even if Sam and Gabe managed to get all of that though, there would still be the problem of finding a witch and, more importantly, the spell itself. Not to mention Gabriel probably still wouldn't have enough grace left for the spell, so they'd had to convince Lucifer and of course the Devil would never agree to…

Alright, so maybe Dean was driving himself crazy. Not that he didn't have every right to. It was only natural he was worried about his brother, but he did realize that thinking up every single doom scenario wouldn't be very helpful either.

Anyway, point was Dean wasn't planning on waiting for all of that. So that's why he'd spent the entire last couple of days going through the lore. He had to admit books never really were his thing and it soon became clear they never would be. God, he missed his little brother.

So far Dean hadn't managed to dig up another spell or way to open the rift. The amount of books on the topic was small enough as it was and none of them seemed to be containing anything useful at all. It was really starting to get frustrating.

They couldn't find another spell. They couldn't perform the spell they had without an archangel's grace. And all of the archangels were on the other side or dead. Except… _Oh crap..._

"Cas," Dean said, unsure of himself but now that the thought had popped into his head, he had to ask. He had to try.

His friend looked up at him with a questioning look on his face, waiting for him to continue.

"What if we-" Dean started, then stopped himself. This was a bad idea. No, actually this was a terrible idea. Probably the worst one he'd ever had. And that was saying _a lot_. But it was the only idea he had. He took a deep breath before throwing out the words.

"What if we can get Michael out of the Cage?"


End file.
